Aluminum engine blocks generally include a cast iron liner or, if liner-less, include a coating on the bore surface. Cast iron liners generally increase the weight of the block and result in mismatched thermal properties between the aluminum block and the cast iron liners. For liner-less blocks, a sizeable investment may have to be made for each block that will receive a coating (e.g., a plasma coated bore process). The logistics to manufacture a liner-less block may be complex, which can increase the cost of production. In addition, geometric dimensional control to allow a uniform plasma coating thickness from top to bottom of the cylinder bore may be difficult.